Moving On
by princesspomegranate
Summary: Steve Rogers is still adjusting to life in the 21st Century; can a waitress give him the simple push he needs to help him move on? Oneshot. StevexBeth.


**Author's Note: The dialogue from the first section comes from the deleted Avengers scene about Steve adjusting to modern life.**

**I own nothing. Anyway, hope you enjoy it and will let me know what you think! :)**

**Kit xx**

* * *

Beth had been milling around at work all day. It was quite busy- but not busy enough in her opinion. Time always moved faster when work was busy, but today was dragging. She'd been twiddling her thumbs for most of the day if she was honest, since a lot of people tended to buy a cup of coffee and just hang around. Well, that was how it was outside anyway, in the section that she was waiting on today.

The girls had to have a rota of who was serving outside because it was always a pain in the rear end - and today was her turn. They always had a prime time spot for an Iron Man flyby so there was usually a constant flow of customers that stayed for at least an hour, most of the time longer, in hopes of seeing him.

Beth rolled her eyes. It wasn't incredibly likely that they'd see Iron Man, he only flew by a couple of times a day. _But I suppose business is business_, she thought with a sigh. _Even if business only bought one drink and expected to be allowed to hang around all day..._

That was when _he_ came into the café. Beth could almost have felt her jaw drop open. He was attractive- strike that- he was _more_ than attractive.

He was a cute, 'All-American' guy. Blond hair, blue eyes that you could melt into, and a body that was... Well, let's just leave it at that.

Julie, a girl that Beth worked with, met her eyes across the café and gave her a wink. Julie had a boyfriend and for the last year she had been half trying to force Beth to get one too so that they could double date. Apparently that look meant that Julie had seen this guy's potential too.

Beth wasn't usually the peer-pressure type, so she was in no rush to find an other half. But this guy was cute, so Beth grinned a little awkwardly at her friend and followed after the guy, who, luckily enough, took a seat in her section outside. There was nothing wrong with a little innocent flirting with an attractive guy, was there? She didn't think so.

She went over to him and smiled. They'd flirted a little- well, _she_ had. He seemed to be a little down, or she hoped it was that, otherwise he just really wasn't interested. And she'd brought him a cup of coffee and watched him while he stuck around.

Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be sticking around because of her though. With a sigh, Beth thought that she'd walk by, stealing glances at him across the café. Her eyebrows raised as she noticed him drawing on a napkin while she went about her business. He was pretty good, even if it was just a napkin doodle.

After a while, Beth made her way over to him, glancing down at his doodle a little more closely. She couldn't help but see that he kept looking up at Stark Tower; maybe he was here to oggle at Tony Stark like the other people sitting outside.

"Waiting on the big guy?" she asked, trying for conversation.

He looked up, clearly not understanding.

"Ma'am?"

"Iron Man," she nodded, gesturing up to the tower. "A lot of people eat here just to see him fly by."

He stared up, almost unimpressed.

"Wow," was all that he said, but he still seemed indifferent to the information.

She smiled a little and then watched as he started to get out some money.

"Maybe another time," he shrugged.

It looked like he was leaving so Beth quickly poured him another cup of coffee and said, "Table's yours as long as you like. Nobody's waiting on it."

Then she's started walking away, but added, "Plus we've got free wireless."

That usually made people stick around a bit longer. She hoped it would keep this guy around anyway.

"Radio?" he asked.

She looked back, a little confused, but said nothing. _I guess that was supposed to be a joke,_ she thought, even though she didn't understand it. After that, Beth had heard one of the regulars tell him to ask for her number as she walked away. She couldn't help but smile at the suggestion.

Of course, nothing came of it; the guy hadn't asked for her number in the end. He'd just given her a polite smile and nodded as he left. She sighed as the door clinked shut behind him. He was polite, sweet, and way out of her league - so clearly he hadn't been interested. _Such a shame,_ she thought. _Oh well, a girl can dream._

* * *

She'd thought that that would be the last that she'd see of him. He wasn't a regular after all, and in fact, he hadn't come back to the café at all. _Ah well, I'll get over it_, she thought, as she went about her daily life as normal. _There'll be other guys..._

But then came the Battle of Manhattan. And she had been stuck right in the middle of it. An alien invasion wasn't exactly what she'd expected when she got up for work that morning - and she inwardly cursed herself for not even wearing her most sensible shoes.

Beth had hidden with the rest of her customers inside the café when the beam of light shot up from Stark Tower and those alien _things_ had started streaming out from a hole in the sky. They had thought they would be safe, or as safe as one could be in that situation, but then the windows had smashed and, in the chaos, she had ended up herded inside the bank on 42nd, past Madison.

In truth, Beth had never been more terrified in her life. And it soon became apparent that they were surrounded by a group of those _creatures._ The aliens had some sort of bomb and they were clearly its targets. She really had thought that they were goners for a moment.

But then he'd arrived, clothed in a uniform of stars and stripes. She hadn't realised who he was until someone had cried out his name. _Captain_ _America_. But it wasn't until his mask came off and he flipped one of the aliens into the crowd that she recognised him.

The 'All-American', good-guy haircut. Those eyes. That body. It was definitely the same guy. And he had saved her life. So when Beth was interviewed by a National news crew, she couldn't help but say thank you, wondering vaguely if he would be watching. If maybe he would remember her. _Wishful_ _thinking_, she told herself. _Oh well._

It didn't really matter if he remembered her; she just knew that she would never forget him.

* * *

After months had passed, the repairs were finally done on the café, and they'd been open again for a week. The alien invasion and the battle of Manhattan, as that disaster had been dubbed, had decimated the city and destroyed many businesses for a long period of time. Yet, funnily enough, the building and decorating industry was thriving...

Steve Rogers drove into the city on his motorbike. Venturing into the city wasn't as common a practice for him now as it used to be, not since the Avengers had been caught on every camera in Manhattan. Steve was thankful that he wasn't recognised too much in his civvys. His mask had helped to hide his identity somewhat, even though he hadn't been wearing it for much of the battle.

Still, Stark's flashy suit and Banner going green-gorilla seemed to distract from his identity a little. He couldn't help being recognised a number of times though. But today he went out, hoping sunglasses would hide him from reporters and, what he found more awkward, _fans_. He had been used to them before, but the 21st Century fans didn't let up; they could be twenty-four-seven. They could be... _obsessive_.

So Steve was trying to distract himself, and today he chose to head back to a cafe he'd been to a couple of months ago. He'd driven past it recently and noticed that they'd reopened. It wasn't too busy at the moment so he wasn't too worried about being noticed. After all, most people would be too busy looking for Stark in his tower to see which hero was under their noses anyway... He hoped.

Besides, if he remembered correctly, the waitress there was pretty good looking. But then he couldn't help but wonder if she'd been in the city during the battle... And if she had been, then had she survived? _Well, that's a depressing thought..._ he frowned to himself.

Steve left his bike parked outside and went into the café. As he sat down in the corner of the room, he noticed that the place had almost been put back to the way that it used to look - the main exception being that everything was quite obviously newly-replaced.

But also noticed that he was in luck since the café wasn't too busy - just as he anticipated. And, even better, the blonde waitress he'd met before was working. Steve reluctantly took his sunglasses off as he thumbed through the menu. He already knew what he was ordering, but he didn't want to risk meeting anyone's eyes; they tended to recognise him more easily if he did.

Just like the blonde waitress he'd met before did when he looked up to get her attention. Steve watched as her eyes widened when she saw him, a strange sort of realisation that he was very familiar with quickly dawning on her face. _Oh_ _no_, he thought. _She recognises me._

Beth was quick to come over to his table when she saw him as he had thought she might be. What surprised Steve was that she said nothing about his other identity and merely smiled and asked what she could get him. _That's_ _odd_, he thought. He was _sure_ that she had recognised him.

"I'll just have a coffee, please."

She skipped away and left him wondering what that look could have been apart from one of recognition. Steve was still pondering on that when she returned with a steaming cup of coffee and a tiny pitcher of milk. She placed them down in front of him and gave a quick smile.

"Thanks," he said, looking down at his cup and taking it in his hand.

But Beth paused at the side of his table, standing there for a moment, awkwardly biting her lip. Steve looked up from under his brows, obviously aware that she hadn't left. She smiled a little nervously a she caught his eye.

"I'm Beth."

She waited.

A little uncomfortably, he replied, "Steve."

She nodded.

"Um, I just wanted to say thank you," she said, quietly enough not to be heard by the other patrons of the café.

Steve blinked. He almost didn't know what to say. But apparently, she _had_ recognised him and she was being nice enough not to draw attention to him. She must have noticed that he was trying to stay inconspicuous.

"Just doing my duty," he nodded, giving a small tight-lipped smile.

She smiled a little back, tilting her head to the side and letting her blonde curls fall over one shoulder.

"Well, yeah. It's just, I was in the city on the day of the battle of Manhattan..."

Beth could almost see the question mark on his face as she trailed off. _Where_ _is_ _this_ _going?_ he wondered, honestly having no idea. She was still sort of smiling at him though, so he assumed that she wasn't going to be one of those people that yelled at him about what had happened that day.

"I was in the bank on 42nd, past Madison, and I mean, I don't know if you remember, I know you... did a lot that day, but those aliens had a bunch of us cornered in there-"

Realisation dawned on Steve's face and he nodded.

"Oh yeah," he said quietly.

Steve remembered that well enough. He'd saved a number of people's lives and in the process got himself blown out of a window. That had hurt a lot; but it was just his job. It was his duty to serve and protect.

"Well, you sort of saved my life, so I, uh, just wanted to say how grateful I am to you."

He gave a small, sideways smile. This was turning out to be a much better conversation than Steve had thought it would be.

"Anytime," he replied.

"I might have to hold you to that one," she grinned a little mischievously.

He paused for a moment before catching on to her tone.

Raising an eyebrow, he replied, "Are you in some sort of trouble, miss?"

"Not yet. But it's useful to know that that's what I've got to do to get in touch with you," she added playfully.

This time both of his brows raised. She was actually interested in him, or so it seemed to him. Steve hadn't asked for her number before because of everything with Peggy, and everything with everyone else. He hadn't been in the right frame of mind then, and he wasn't even entirely sure that was now, but maybe it was time for him to move on; maybe try again.

So he said, "I can think of a few easier ways to get hold of me."

She tilted her head to the side again. Then, after a moment, vanished behind the café's counter. He just stared as she disappeared. _Well, this is awkward_, he thought. He'd just put himself out there and she'd simply walked off. This wasn't how he'd meant for things to go. Then again, he never had been that great at dealing with women.

Frowning, Steve stood up. He fished the money for the coffee out of his pocket and left that, and a tip, on the table. Beth might have just rejected him, but she hadn't drawn any attention to him being there. In his opinion, that deserved a tip at least.

Steve was midway through a hasty exit, opening the door just as he got a tap on the shoulder. He turned around. It was her. _This is even more awkward_, he thought, cursing that he had been caught in the middle of a hasty retreat. Beth simply smiled though and held out a piece of paper. She let out a small laugh when she watched him look confused as he took it and looked down at what she'd written. Her name and her number.

"I thought this might be easier than becoming a hostage in a bank again," she smiled.

He laughed a little, more than somewhat relieved that that was why Beth had disappeared. If he was honest with himself, Steve's ego had been taking a bit of a hit as he had been awkwardly leaving.

"I think you're right," he said with a nod.

"So, um, yeah... Call me."

Beth cringed inwardly that she'd actually just said that and giggled a little nervously. But Steve just grinned and held up his hand with her number in it, giving her a flick of a wave.

"See you around," he replied, before leaving.

And, as he walked back to his bike, Steve couldn't help but think just how lucky this day had actually been.


End file.
